Mongabay shark meat investigation wins national journalism award in Brazil

A Mongabay investigation that revealed Brazilian state-run institutions bulk-buying shark meat for public schools, hospitals and prisons won second place in the ARI/Banrisul Journalism Award, one of Brazil’s most prestigious journalism prizes.
In collaboration with the Pulitzer Center, Mongabay revealed how authorities had issued 1,012 public tenders since 2004 for the procurement of more than 5,400 metric tons of shark meat, raising environmental and public health concerns.
In a statement, the Rio Grande do Sul Press Association (ARI) said the award “recognized the talents” in professional and university categories amid a record number of entries, up 40% from the 2024 edition.
Following the revelations, the investigation sparked several impacts, from a call for a public hearing in Brazil’s lower house of Congress, a citation in a lawsuit to ban shark meat from federal procurements, to an industry debate questioning the harms of shark meat consumption.

A Mongabay investigation that revealed Brazilian state-run institutions bulk-buying shark meat for public schools, hospitals and prisons has won second place in the national category of the 67th ARI/Banrisul Journalism Award, one of the country’s most prestigious journalism prizes.

Mongabay, working in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center, published the investigation in late July revealing that Brazilian authorities had issued 1,012 public tenders since 2004 for the procurement of more than 5,400 metric tons of shark meat, worth at least 112 million reais ($20 million). These tenders were issued by 542 municipalities in 10 of Brazil’s 26 states, raising environmental and public health concerns. Shark meat can contain high levels of mercury and arsenic, which scientists say can be harmful to human health when consumed in large quantities; at the same time, overfishing can deplete populations of sharks, which are recognized as critical to the marine environment.

A second article published as part of the investigation found that government agencies across Brazil’s southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul, had issued tenders for at least 211 metric tons of angelshark, which are endangered.

In a Dec. 12 statement announcing the ARI/Banrisul award, the Rio Grande do Sul Press Association (ARI) said the award “recognized the talents” in professional and university categories amid a record number of entries, up 40% from the 2024 edition. Senior editor Philip Jacobson and investigative reporters Karla Mendes and Fernanda Wenzel were the Mongabay authors of the two-part investigation, along with Kuang Keng Kuek Ser, the Pulitzer Center’s data editor.

Shark steaks, labeled as cação, on sale in a market in Itajaí in Brazil’s Santa Catarina state. Image by Philip Jacobson/Mongabay.

The trade in shark meat, as opposed to shark fins, is generally murky, with scientists only just beginning to delve into it. Right after its publication, the Mongabay investigation sparked several impacts, from a call for a public hearing by Nilto Tatto, the head of the environmental caucus in Brazil’s lower house of Congress, to industry debate questioning the harms of shark meat consumption.

Brazil’s top environmental council cited the investigation as it weighed a ban on shark fin exports and the use of wire leaders, a type of industrial fishing gear, within marine protected areas. Although Mongabay did cover these issues in the investigation, Braulio Dias, director of conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity with Brazil’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, said the report contributed to ongoing revisions within the industry and has spurred “greater awareness of the seriousness of the problem we are having with sharks.”

Mongabay’s exposé was also cited as part of a class-action civil suit to ban federal public institutions from issuing tenders for the procurement of shark meat, authored by marine conservation NGO Sea Shepherd Brasil. In Rio Grande do Sul, government agencies said they would stop ordering angelshark meat for public meal programs.

The investigation was also featured by U.S. public radio program The World; on Mongabay’s podcast; and in the iMEdD International Journalism Forum’s video series “Unpacking the Story.”

In 2024, Mongabay won an honorable mention in the 66th ARI/Banrisul Journalism Award for Mendes’s “Dying for Arariboia” series that uncovered a direct connection between the expansion of the cattle industry in the Amazonian state of Maranhão and an increase in violent crime against the inhabitants of the Arariboia Indigenous Territory. The project, which also received editorial and financial support from the Pulitzer Center, won the 2025 John B. Oakes Award for Distinguished Environmental Journalism — the first time for Mongabay and for a Brazilian journalist.

Banner image: Shark meat is prepared for distribution at CEAGESP in São Paulo city. Image by Philip Jacobson/Mongabay.